Zipper Pouches

After seeing the challenge posted at  Crazy Little Projects, I've been spending all my free time sewing and finding new projects to sew. And it all started when I saw Project #3 the zipper pouch from Simple Simon and Company. This pintucked zipper pouch is so cute and pretty easy to make! I quickly whipped up one and if I had extra zippers I would have made more. If you would like to make one too, the link to the tutorial is here.

The other pouches are ones that I had started making back in December to go with the bags made for my cousins. Making the pintucked pouch was the push I needed to finish these ones. The pattern is from a Kristin Link's free Craftsy class. I obviously love this pattern as well and will definitely be making more in the future.

 The next one that I make I want to try adding interfacing to the exterior pieces. After making a couple of pouches I decided that I like thickness of the tab pouches which all had interfacing.

My favorite part of all of them is the contrasting lining! All of the fabric used was purchased at the store I work at which is Jo-Ann. In fact everything but the light blue fabric on the pintucked pouch was from quilt bundles that I purchased. 

Close up of the tabs.

Here's my updated project list! Slowly working on getting everything done.

Let's Start the New Year Right...

...with lots of sewing! December ended with lots of sewing and to keep on track for the next year I decided to take on a monthly challenge. Crazy Little Projects has started an awesome Monthly Challenge with a prize of a sewing machine and $100 for fabric! I'm super excited to get started!

Crazy Little Projects' Sew Crazy Monthly Challenge

 This is the project I plan on taking on for the Jan challenge. They look so cute I might even make a couple of them! Look for them in the next post along with some of the other projects from my list.

Finally got a picture of the finished table runner!

Current Project List

Since finishing my Christmas gifts I've become addicted to sewing. My list of projects I want to try making keeps growing and growing. I had today off and I got to spend time on two of my projects and make a list for what I need to complete the rest. I will update as soon as I get pictures of my completed projects. In short Happy New Year and let's have another year full of crafts and cats!The finished bag I made for my cousin. I'm pretty proud of it and all that I learned while making it.

New projects list! 

My Christmas present from my Grandma.  There will be cupcakes in the near future. 

Christmas Crafts

I decided my Christmas presents this year would be handmade as much as possible which fits just perfectly with my new job. The first major project I am undertaking is a table runner for my Grandmother. Way back when my Grandmother took a quilting class that and made one of these table runners for each of her daughters, all four of them! Yet she still didn't have a Christmas table runner for herself. Now I am definitely still new to sewing so I recruited my mom for backup when I begun working on this. Between the two of us we knocked out the squares in one day.

Just getting started! I had already decided that I wanted to make my table runner two squares longer than the original that my Grandmother made. Luckily I didn't need to cut any extra pieces as the pattern already has you buying a lot of extra fabric plus with some careful cutting I was able to get all the pieces I needed for the extra squares from what I already had sewn.
Here's a shot of my messy working station. For the record the trees gave my mom a ton of trouble. She was pinning the squares together for me but after sewing the first side of one of the trees I realized she had pinned them together wrong. We all have our weaknesses I guess. Mine is still the bobbin for the record. Everything between winding it and threading it... bobbins drive me crazy.
My first finished squares! I'm so happy with how they turned out!Laying out all the squares with my Grandma's original up above. I have since sewn them all the squares together and I'm still deciding on what I want to do for the border. Hopefully I will be able to finish this on my next day off. And down below is a sneak peek of my other Christmas projects!

Long Time No See

Getting a new job at a fabric store has been amazing but it has also taken up all my time lately. Now that Black Friday is over with, I have got a little more free time which means it's time to get started on Christmas presents! Also the employee discount allowed me to save on all my homemade projects this. Hopefully I can get everything done by Christmas! Here's my haul from today. I've already started pre-washing some of the fabric so I will post again soon once I actually start the projects!

Throwback Thrusday

When I was little my grandmother made me cute outfits to wear for holidays and special occasions. As she got older it became harder for her to sew and since my mom didn't sew there was fewer outfits that were homemade. I had one sewing course when I was in middle school but threading the bobbin gave me so much trouble that I never continued. Now that I'm older I hope I can overcome my fear of the bobbin problems and start creating my own garments that fit my new smaller body. Since losing weight I've found I want to sew more just so that I can alter clothes to show off my curves more. Both these reasons have lead me to decide that I want to sew my Halloween costume this year. So here are some pictures that lead to my decision on a costume.

Here I am in one of the outfits that my grandmother made for me with my dad. This Easter outfit was worn for a couple of years for different occasions. At this age I was all about flowers and frilly things.

Less frilly this time but here I am with my cousin in a sweatshirt dress decorated by my Grandmother at Christmas. I'm in blue while my cousin's in pink and behind us is my Grandma. I'm a little over a year older than my cousin so we've always been close especially because the boy grand kids always outnumbered us girls.

The final picture I have to share is myself in my Belle costume with my brothers. Now I'm pretty sure this picture was not taken on Halloween as our living room was not usually set up for a tea party and the other pictures with this one were from my birthday party (in March), but this was my Halloween costume a couple of years. Also aren't my brothers adorable!

The idea started here with a Belle after remembering the dress above but as I explored the Disneybound tumblr more I realized Rapunzel would be easier for me to accomplish on a limited budget because I knew my grandmother had a lavender dress that I could possibly use. Also I'm more likely to wear a purple dress instead of a gold one. Soon I should have a post on my attempts to alter the dress to fit me. Like I said I still haven't done much sewing so it will be an interesting challenge!

Brother's Birthday

For my brother's birthday (that was last Sunday) I made him a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. The cake was from a box but the frosting I whipped together from cream cheese, peanut butter and a little bit of powdered sugar. It turned out pretty well so late night I enjoyed a piece on a plate I decorated when I was about 2 1/2 years old. 

I should have a longer post tomorrow about my plans for my dream Halloween costume that I want to make if I have any extra money this month.